Enough about Meghan Markle, people. Drop your pitchforks, put down your sharp insults, and leave the woman alone.
In the wake of Markle and her husband Prince Harry’s surprise decision to leave behind front-line royal duties, the entire world has been glued to the royal couple’s window, spying for any information they can regurgitate in the form of sexist, racist and xenophobic insults. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. Maybe not the entire world — just those privileged enough to count feasting on the troubles of others as a priority.
The British media has blamed the couple’s exit — which they have even dubbed “Megxit” — on Meghan. And this is not the first-time tabloids have scapegoated Markle to explain every change in the royal family since she came into the picture. They’ve accused her of instigating a rift between Harry and his brother Prince William, provoking conflict with William’s wife Kate Middleton, isolating Prince Harry from his normal social circles and creating tensions throughout the royal family.
Again, we as a global society are reiterating, as we have time and again, our own shallowness. Why are we allowing ourselves to massacre a woman who gave up her career to launch her image into the critical, and mean, public eye?
Perhaps it's because collectively, subconsciously, we feel threatened by the image of a biracial, divorced American actress who wants to create self-sovereignty for her family and herself, on her own terms. Maybe it’s because she has never fit the traditional mold of a member of the British royal family, an emblem of Western whiteness. Maybe it has to do with more than race — maybe it’s because she’s an outsider — a woman, raised by a working-class family. Or it could be because she has the audacity, with the resources and privilege she has acquired in life, to move beyond the expectations we have placed on her to stand, smile and wave by her husband and the British Queen.
How dare she (allegedly) sign a deal with Disney to do a voice-over in exchange for a donation to a wildlife charity of her choosing? How dare she return to a career she spent a majority of her life trying to achieve? How dare she and her husband become financially independent and attempt to carve out more autonomous public roles for themselves? Right?
Wrong. The press coverage of Markle exhibits the stale conditioning of the public to regard this woman and person of color in a negative light, no matter her contributions to society.
Even Queen Elizabeth has issued a statement giving her blessing to the royal couple regarding their decision. In the end, neither her royal duties or contributions to her country are affected by her grandson’s choice to pursue his life in a different manner with his family. So why should the rest of us care?
The vitriolic hate launched at Markle and her family is unwarranted and, quite frankly, stupid. It reflects a collective need for us to evaluate the importance we place on global issues and the ways we define them. Right now, there are more tragic, deeper and recent challenges to our world that require crucial attention: the Iran missile attack in Iraq on Jan. 8, the shooting of Ukraine International Flight 752 by the Iranian military, the 5.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Puerto Rico, and the ravaging wildfires in Australia that have killed 28 people and damaged over 3,000 homes, and destroyed much of the wildlife and natural terrain in the country.
